Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:18/04/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On march 6, 2023 I personally contact the company over the phone for a translation quote for documents Portuguese - English - Italian, to be used at the Italian Consulate which the attendant/manager Aurelia S***** agreed to and said she is authorized to do so, and quote at $1400.00 and later at $1300.00 without the lawyer signature, at the same day made a transfer of $700.00. Picked up the documents on March 23, paid the remaining amount charged of $700.00. Which realized later that was over charged $100.00, she later transfer the amount. On April 12 after the ********* app which they informed me that the translation were not valid and could not be used because it was from Portuguese-English-Italian and Aurelia is authorized with the consulate to only translate English to Italian. I called the company and she started ******* at me and blaming me for it, telling me I was well aware which I could not understand the attitude as it was a paid service. As you can read on her messages over the phone. The way she made me feel is just not right because she told me she could do it and I believed her and paid her and now she is blaming me for it. Ps. all docs are stamped by her from Portuguese to Italian.

  Business Response

  Date: 18/04/2023

  Good afternoon,

   My name is Aurelia S***** , I am the founder and CEO of A&T Interpreters and Translators Ltd. established in Vancouver  since 1988. We are well know in providing service in translations and interpretations  in 86 languages. Today we received this complaint from ******* **** . ******* contacted our company on March 6, 2023 asking help in translating her 9 documents from Portuguese to Italian.  I said  to her that we can help because my name is on the list of the Italian Consulate  but I asked her then to phone the Consulate and find out if they will accept translations from Portuguese to Italian before we start the translation. ******* answer was that it is impossible to talk to the Consulate because no one answers the phone and she  decided to go ahead anyway.  So we translated the 9 documents  from Portuguese to Italian and also  another set of 9 from Portuguese to English . In total of 18 translated documents.  The initial price provided for the documents sent with her first request was accepted but then ******* had to replace one short document with a quite long one so the price had change. A difference of $100.00 was overcharged and refunded  right away to *******. So we translated all the documents  and when ******* went to the Italian Consulate for her interview and the translations were not approved as I was informed by ******* by phone. When I asked her what was the reason, she could not explain it  but she said the Consulate suggested to her to send them to the ****** ******* in Ottawa  for supra-legalization and then to the Italian Consulate in Brazil. When  ******* gave us the ok the first time I mentioned to her that she might have to send them to the ****** *******  after we do the translations. She asked how long I think will take and I just said probably a month or so the receive them back. Then she said  to start  the translation without sending them to the ****** ******* and later , if needed she will decide what to do .  When I heard what the Consulate suggested to her   right away I offered to have our translations legalized by our lawyer, which is a different certification required by the ****** *******  and I know that because for the last 15 years I have been sending translations to them to supra-legalization and I said to ******* that she does not have to pay anything for our lawyer because I will pay the lawyer an amount of $360.00 + GST  to legalize the 9 documents in Italian .

  I thought that it is a way to solve this issue but ******* declined my help saying that it is too difficult for her to do all these and send them to Brazil after . Instead she chose to ask for a full refund  without taking  any responsibility to the fact that she did not   call the Consulate before we started.  I did not know that the Italian Consulate has my name only from English to Italian. I have been working for this Consulate for many years and I had never have returned translations. In her today's email she gave me 24 hours to send a full refund by etransfer to her  and not allowing me to contact her by phone to discuss this matter further , because when I received  her message I wanted to talk to her and phoned her but she decided not to answer. I wanted to discuss coming to an agreement and her taking  responsibility for the fact that she gave us the ok to start without talking to the Consulate. In our 33 years of business this is the first complaint filed with BBB about our company and it is very upsetting specially when  we were ready to help with this issue but our offer was declined.  

  Yours truly

  Aurelia S***** 

  CEO and Founder 

  A & T Interpreters & Translators Ltd.

   316-470 Granville Street 

   Vancouver , BC 

   V6C 1V5

  Customer Answer

  Date: 19/04/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I have never been asked to contact the Italian Consulate in the first place,  in regards accepting or not legal translation from this company. I don't believe anyone in the right mind would go a head and paid a company the amount of $1300.00 for translation paper with no purpose of use. Also to clarified the Italian Consulate doesn't have a public phone number to ask any questions therefore what Ms Aurelia is saying is not true and would never be possible to happen as you require appointment. As you can read in every screenshots of our conversations since day one she mentioned more than once that is qualified and associated with the Italian Consulate. As per not answering her call or accepting her offer with her lawyer at this point I don't feel comfortable neither trust her or her company as she was ******* at me over the phone multiple times (first time was because I mentioned I was overcharged, yes she was ******* at me over the phone and said many times **** ***** ********** *** **** *** ***** * ******* ** *** ***** ***** ** ***** *** * ******* ****** *** **** * *********  ******* ** ** ******* *** ******* *** ***** *********** *** *** **** *** ** ******** ** ** ****** ****** ** ** ********* ***** *** *** ****** ** *** *************. To sum up last night she was messaging me at after 8pm. All of this adds to how unprofessional she is and you can only imagine how uncomfortable she is making me fell with messages and non-sense accusations. (Screenshot provided)
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* ****

  Business Response

  Date: 21/04/2023

  
  April 21,2023
  
  Respond to
  Complaint # ********  dated April 19, 2023
  
  After filing her first complaint, we thought that *******
  would realize and think a little longer about what she is asking from us. She
  is asking for a full refund not for the service provided, but for the Consulate
  decision not to approve our translations for a reason that is not related in any
  way to the quality of the service provided for which ******* paid $1,300.00.  Now considering the grounds of both of her
  complaints, the fact that we asked or did not ask *******, before accepting the
  job, to check with the Consulate, it becomes irrelevant. It is not our
  obligation to ask the client to call or not to call Consulates, lawyer, etc.
  handling their cases. We are sometime do that just to help the client to prevent
  such situations as this one and we never assure our clients of the outcome of
  their legal process because, that is decided by the corresponding authorities to
  where our  translations are sent. If questions
  arise, questions related to the accuracy of our translations after the
  translations leave our office, we will consider a possibility of a money
  refund.  ******* paid $1,300.00 for the
  translation of her documents not for an approval from the Italian Consulate
  regarding her legal process where she was to use our translations.
  
  Her statement that she paid for useless translations
  is very unreasonable. The translations were correctly and accurately processed.
   There were no ******* involved in any of
  our phone conversations. There were questions asked by the phone over and over
  again in order to find out the reason  why
  our  translations were not accepted  because ******* , for an unknown reason, could
  not tell us on the phone right after the interview why the translations were
  not approved . The only error occurred during  this process was about the $100.00 overcharged
  by mistake. When ******* noticed it and texted me, I apologized and right away
  I e-transferred  it. There was no *******
  about this issue as well.
  
  The reason she stated for rejecting our offer to help
  her free of charge to have the 9 documents ready to go to the ****** ******* is
  not credible.   As I read in her second complaint her explanation
  for rejecting the offer was  that she does
  not trust our company  or our lawyer to
  go further, in spite of the fact that 30 min before the interview  at the Consulate she was asking for more help from
   us ( see the message) , but suddenly
  after the interview ******* did not like our service anymore and even our
  lawyer that she has never met.   
  
  In her attempt to get full refund as soon ss possible she
  ignored the 24 hour time she gave us to decide what to do about sending her a
  full refund (see attached)  She went straight
  ahead to file   her complaint with BBB .
  Her statement about me texting her on the 18th at 8 :00
  pm is a false statement.  At that time at
  night I was actually at ******* trying to get something for my dinner because  on that day I left the office at 7 :30 pm,
  after spending time on my respond  to her
  first complaint and after that on completing the rest of the daily tasks which were
  put aside in order to respond to her complaint.   Why would I try to contact her  again after she said in one of her previous message
  «  there is no reason
  to communicate anymore > (see attached)  after trying to call her to arrange an appointment
  to talk about this situation  threatening
  She is implying something that is not true and you can see that in the way I
  replied to her message early morning on the 19th when she is ***********  us to call the  police  if
  I contact her again  and the way I answered
  it shows  that I was not aware of what
  she was accusing me of in her second complaint.  Later in the day I received from BBB her second
  complaint  and I read  about her accusing me of texting her on the 18th
  at 8 :00 pm at night .
  The most relevant sms
  messages are attached for your perusal.
  I hope the right
  decision will be reached by BBB and this unfounded and unreasonable complaint
  filed against  our company will  very soon come to an end 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 21/04/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: she is once again saying that she didn't message me, attached is the screenshot. Also, like I said before, the consulate mentioned she is not authorize to translate/stamp Portuguese - Italian therefore translations can not be useful. I suggested her to refund for days and I would give her back all docs she translated,  she kept repeating herself saying "nothing I can do about it right now" also ********* on the phone, accusing me of telling the consulate she did translate Portugue-English-Italian when she was the one that stamped the docs with such info. Hard to trust a company where the Manager treat you with such disrespect and have such attitude towards clients. 

  
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* ****

   

   

   

   

  Business Response

  Date: 24/04/2023

    Complaint ID ********

   Today I received another complaint about something that has nothing to do with what ******* paid for . 

  Her statement that I am not authorized to do Portuguese to English translations is another false statement that should be taken into consideration.  The fact that I am on the Italian Consulate list is a true fact and also confirmed by ******* herself in her first complaint. I was not aware of the fact that I am not approved by the consulate to do indirect translations up until this incident . 

  The Consulate  never informed us about the way that my name is listed with them.  The refund request again is not based on the service we provided but it is based on the way the Consulate has my name listed.  I was never informed about this by the Consulate and if I knew this before , I would have never accepted *******'s request .  From my perspective, ******* , before starting the process,  should have let the Consulate know that her documents are in Portuguese ( that is why I asked her by the phone to check with the Consulate first )and probably she would have found out  the right away to have them translated  to be accepted by the Consulate . On our certification stamp  I could not  swear that the translation was done from an original in English  because  the documents attached to my translation were in Portuguese. 

  I am so sorry  but I have nothing else to say to this non-sense , time consuming action.

  Yours truly,

  Aurelia S***** 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 24/04/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: She was well aware when I asked her before hand if she could translate and she was affiliate with the Consulate,  that's why I paid for the translations. Feels like no good intentions to me when a company only talks over the phone and nothing in writing, and here we are with her saying this or that since she knew it all since day one. If BBB please cause take the time to read all phone messages screenshots you can tell how aggressive she is towards me. As per right now I just feel like we are going in circles and need mediations because she is just not taking any responsibility on it. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* ****